Myanmar president in historic White House visit

Myanmar's President Thein Sein has made a historic visit to the White House - the first Burmese leader to do so in nearly half a century.

US President Barack Obama says the Myanmar leader has promised to release more political prisoners and continue democratic reforms.

He praised Myanmar's journey away from brutal junta rule and promised Washington would offer more political and economic support.

Mr Obama said previously tortured US-Myanmar relations had eased because of "the leadership that President Sein has shown in moving Myanmar down a path of both political and economic reform."

During Thein Sein's visit US president repeatedly used the word "Myanmar" - the name introduced during military rule, and which is slowly being used more frequently by US officials as a courtesy to the reforming government - rather than Burma.

Mr Obama has also told Thein Sein the violence against Muslims must end - a reference to the unrest that's plagued Rakhine state.

He expressed "deep concern about communal violence that has been directed against Muslim communities inside Myanmar".

"The displacement of people, the violence directed towards them needs to stop," he said.

'Normalisation of relations'

Business adviser and former British ambassador to Vietnam and Thailand Derek Tonkin has told Radio Australia's Asia Pacific the United States is "on the road" to a "normalisation of relations" with Myanmar.

He says the speed of reforms within Myanmar is "quite electrifying". "It's going far faster than anyone had supposed," he said.

"The most frequent comment I heard while I was in Myanmar was that reforms were going ahead too rapidly."

Thein Sein says his country has "many challenges," and he was grateful for the US policy of engagement towards Myanmar which he said had helped the reform process.

"For democracy to flourish in our country, we will have to move forward, and we will have to undertake political reforms and economic reforms," he said.

As Thein Sein's motorcade pulled into the White House, Burmese protesters were waiting - angry at the continuing violence against racial and religious minorities in Myanmar.

"He's getting this honour at the White House," said one protester. "He doesn't deserve it."

The protesters said the president's recent reforms - like releasing political prisoners, and loosening censorship, can't be believed.

The US still imposes sanctions on Myanmar - but has lifted many of them, keen to encourage what it sees as real progress in a country that just a few years ago was one of the world's most tyrannical regimes.

Thein Sein, who took office as a nominal civilian in 2011, surprised even cynics by freeing hundreds of political prisoners, easing censorship and letting long-detained opposition icon Aung San Suu Kyi enter parliament.

The most critical test of reform will come in 2015, when Myanmar is scheduled to hold elections - testing whether the military and its allies would be willing to cede power, potentially to Ms Suu Kyi.

The army seized control of the country then known as Burma in 1962, ushering in decades of isolation.

Military ruler Ne Win in 1966 was the last leader to visit the White House, where he met president Lyndon Johnson.